


Untitled

by InfiniteNirvana



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst?, Blood, Implied Violence, M/M, Modern AU, idek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 02:16:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14534502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfiniteNirvana/pseuds/InfiniteNirvana
Summary: He didn’t even bother to turn on the light, he only wanted to take a shower and collapse onto his bed, sleep until whenever his body decided it was time to wake up. Tomorrow he was free, his first free day in months and he would probably just sleep all day. Hopefully sleep all day.His plans were shattered the moment he walked into the living room. In the dark he could only make out a silhouette, but Subaki knew exactly whose body it was that was currently occupying his old couch.





	Untitled

It was nearly dawn when Subaki finally opened the door to his apartment after another long shift at the hospital. He didn’t even bother to turn on the light, he only wanted to take a shower and collapse onto his bed, sleep until whenever his body decided it was time to wake up. Tomorrow he was free, his first free day in months and he would probably just sleep all day. Hopefully sleep all day.  
His plans were shattered the moment he walked into the living room. In the dark he could only make out a silhouette, but Subaki knew exactly whose body it was that was currently occupying his old couch. He sighed, walking into his kitchen, getting his first-aid kit ready before coming back, finally turning on the light in the living room. A grunt from the couch. He was still conscious, Subaki thought, trying to ignore the relief washing over him. It was a start but it meant nothing, he shouldn’t get his hopes up.

He watched the body from where he was standing and cringed internally. No matter how many times this happened, no matter how many battered bodies he mended during work hours, he would never get used to seeing Niles trying to sit up, a mundane task being made a near-impossible challenge due to his body being bruised and cut. Subaki never showed that sentiment though, his face a mask of indifference while he took the scene unfolding before him in. Niles’ face was a mess, blood dried on his broken lip, his left eye barely visible through the swelling, starting to turn dark. At least his nose wasn’t broken again, Subaki thought. Niles brought a hand up to run it through his hair, his knuckled sore and bloody. There was a fresh cut over his right eyebrow, a trail of dried blood going down to the empty eyesocket. He had lost his eyepatch again. Blood was drying on one side of his head, its crimson colour stark against the white of his hair.  
His shirt was ripped and the cut it revealed in his side was worrying Subaki more than what he’d like to admit. He couldn’t watch this anymore and decided to take pity on Niles, walking up to the couch to help him to his feet. The closer he got the more wounds he saw, small cuts, so shallow they were already closing, bleeding scratches on his neck. It used to fill him with an equal amount of panic and anger but by now what he felt was a dull arch. An echo of how he had felt the first time he walked into his living room to find Niles in a similar state. And the second and third time. The forth. When had he started getting so used to this? It was worrying.

Niles looked up to Subaki when latter put one arm around his shoulders to help him up, a wide grin on his lips. Maybe he was past the point of feeling pain by now, maybe blood loss had made him light-headed, Subaki didn’t know. How long had he been waiting for Subaki to come home? “Can you even walk?”, Subaki asked, looking at Niles. He could see the scars from earlier escapades, white against his dark skins and he wondered why he kept doing this. Subaki didn’t know if he meant Niles or himself.  
“Sure, just need a bit of help...”, Niles mumbled as an answer, using Subaki to pull himself to his feet, flinching at the new pain that came with that movement. He was slurring slightly, but Subaki wasn’t sure if he was drunk or had simply lost too much blood. He could only smell blood. They made it to the kitchen, Niles only occasionally reaching out to keep himself from falling. He was in a better state than the last two times and Subaki was thankful for that because Niles might’ve been a bit smaller than Subaki but he was heavy and getting an unresponsive Niles onto the kitchen counter wasn’t an easy task at all.

When Niles was finally sitting on the edge of the counter Subaki went to the sink to wash his hands and put on some gloves. His fatigue was wearing off slowly and the focus he was used to from long days and nights of work was coming back to him. When he turned around Niles was starting to lay down on his back and Subaki heard his own mechanical voice: “Shirt.”. Niles looked at him pulling his lips into a dirty, lopsided grin, one eyebrow cocked. “So demanding.”, he purred, but Subaki could still hear the pain in his voice.  
Subaki only gave him an empty look as a reaction, waiting. Niles’ grin didn’t fall. Niles pulled his shirt over his head with some effort and hissing, letting it fall to the floor when he was done and finally lying down on the hard surface of Subaki’s kitchen counter. Subaki had long lost count of how many times he had watched this exact same scene unfold before him.  
Subaki didn’t waste any more time, walking up to Niles and getting to work on mending Niles’ wounds. There was a tense silence, only interrupted by Niles’ occasional hisses and whines. Subaki knew that he had helped himself to painkillers but of course he was still in pain. After overdoing it once he had never done it again. It surprised Subaki considering how Niles didn’t seem to really have any sense of self-preservation. Apparently an overdose of painkillers was where he stopped. 

In the beginning they had talked, Niles joking through gritted teeth, Subaki trying to talk sense into him, eyes prickling and voice failing him. Those arguments stopped a couple of months ago. Subaki had told Niles he’d call the police. He’d been caught up in his own blinding anger, fisting the front of Niles’ bloody shirt.  
Niles moved so quickly Subaki didn’t notice, hadn’t even realised Niles could still move this quickly in the poor state he was in. But he did and suddenly something cold was pressing against Subaki’s throat and Niles face was cold, his bloody lips pulled into a thin line, a single blue eye boring into Subaki’s face. A chill ran down Subaki’s spine. He couldn’t see it but he knew that it was Niles’ switchblade that was currently pressing against his throat, not hard enough to break skin. Subaki knew Niles always kept it sharp and nothing in Niles’ face was telling Subaki that this was a joke.  
“You won’t.”, Niles said, his voice dark. It was a warning. His hand wasn’t shaking, his voice wasn’t faltering. He was serious, maybe the most serious Subaki had ever witnessed him being. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Subaki could hear his blood rush in his ears and his heart beat fast and he wanted to avert his eyes, wanted to imagine that there was anything in Niles’ features giving away that he would never slit Subaki’s throat. Because Subaki couldn’t find anything close to that no matter how hard he searched. 

“Right?”, Niles added. It sounded like a challenge, but the grin that usually graced Niles’ lips when he challenged Subaki was missing. And while Subaki was usually up for his stupid challenges, he knew better than testing his luck with a blade pressed against his neck. Carefully, Subaki shook his head, not trusting his voice. The movement made the blade cut his skin, a shallow cut that was barely bleeding. Niles didn’t take his eyes off Subaki’s face for another minute before finally putting the knife away. Subaki didn’t move, just watched unblinking as the switchblade disappeared in Niles’ pocket. A blue eye looked up at him seconds later, no longer cold, a smirk pulling at Niles’ mouth. He ran a thumb over the small cut on Subaki’s neck that had already started to close. Subaki froze at the touch, unsure of what to do. Niles’ hand moved to the back of Subaki’s neck and up, into his hair. 

Suddenly, Niles took a fistful of red hair and pulled Subaki down, crashing their lips together into a bruising kiss. He tasted of blood.  
When Subaki was done with Niles sunlight was already streaming in through his kitchen window. Subaki was exhausted. Niles had passed out earlier and was now coming back, eyelid fluttering and face contorting in pain. He sat up, slowly, taking the pill and the glass of water Subaki was holding out to him. Subaki was busying himself with cleaning up the mess while Niles got up from the counter, putting the now empty glass down and starting to move out of the kitchen on shaky legs. Subaki wondered if he’d make it to the bedroom without falling. It wouldn’t be the first time if he didn’t.  
Minutes later Subaki heard the distinct sound of the bedroom door closing and he had an answer to his question. Or maybe he was so tired he was imagining things and would find Niles curled up on the floor in the living room. It wouldn’t be the first time, either. He cleaned up as well as he could in his state of utter exhaustion before going into the living room where he laid down on the couch. He didn’t like sleeping in the same bed as Niles when latter was healing. Subaki wasn’t a very still sleeper and ever since the one time he kicked a bandaged Niles out of the bed in his sleep, Subaki always took the couch during those nights. 

He knew that Niles would be gone in the morning, like always. The only time he had stayed was when he had broken a foot. Otherwise he would always be gone before Subaki woke, even on work days. Would be gone for days, weeks, sometimes months. But Subaki knew he’d come back. One day or night Subaki would walk into his apartment and find him hunched over on the couch, getting blood on it. Subaki would have to scrub out later. Until that day, though, Subaki would be skimming the news in paranoia, waiting to see a picture of Niles somewhere, waiting to read an article on how he was found dead or imprisoned or god knows what. Subaki didn’t know by now.

Light was already starting to flood the room and Subaki’s eyes fell shut and even if he had wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to open them again. He just wanted blissful sleep, his sore body needed rest and so did his strained mind. Thankfully, it didn’t take very long for sleep to take him.

**Author's Note:**

> So I tried to take a nap and woke up possessed by this idea...
> 
> Which is also the reason I can't come up with a title.


End file.
